Did Jesus predict contraception?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Desperate
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Desperate

Guest
In Luke 23:28-32 The Way of the Cross, when Jesus meets the women and he tells them not to cry for Him but to weep for yourselves and children for indeed the days are coming when people will say " Blessed are the barren… Can you please explain this to me?
 
Last edited:
The event predicted is the siege and destruction of Jerusalem (67-70 AD). For over 3 years close to a million Jews died of starvation, disease and internal war before the Roman troops destroyed the city. Historian Josephus reported on this.
 
Last edited:
CorydonMundi said:
People on birth control aren’t barren, and they certainly wouldn’t be blessed for using it.
Click to expand...
Women who are using drugs and devices for contraceptive purposes are indeed making themselves barren, even if only temporarily, or they may resort to permanent sterilization. And I realize this isn’t what the passage of Scripture refers to, but in modern society, many people rejoice in self-inflicted barrenness, relieved and jubilant that they are no longer able to bring forth children. They boast about it.

Men are not normally referred to as being “barren”, but if they have had a vasectomy, the same principle applies — “now it’s party time!”. There is not yet any reliable medical contraceptive for men, only vasectomy or condom use.

I would be slightly less disedified if someone, male or female, were to have themselves sterilized, and be mournful of the fact that they can never again bring a child forth — “I’d like to be able to, but my circumstances being what they are, it can’t be allowed to happen”. There may be people who think like this, but I’ve never met any of them. It wouldn’t make their sin any less culpable, but it would not be as odious as having made oneself sterile and being happy about it.

For my part, even though I resort to no immoral means — I am celibate as a result of being divorced and living chastely — I do regret that, unless something highly unforeseen would happen, I will never again be a father. A few years ago, when I was working, I was mentoring a Nigerian intern from one of the local HBCUs, and when I mentioned just having the one son, he said “just one? — wow, that’s pretty sad”. Africans see large families as a sign of blessing and prosperity, and unfortunately, Westerners don’t see it the same way.
 
I guess I shouldn’t have been lazy and typed the whole passage. I know that birth control users aren’t barren and they weren’t being blessed for it. Jesus said to weep for those who feel “Blessed to be Barren”.
 
Desperate said:
In Luke 23:28-32 The Way of the Cross, when Jesus meets the women and he tells them not to cry for Him but to weep for yourselves and children for indeed the days are coming when people will say " Blessed are the barren… Can you please explain this to me?
Click to expand...
Luke 23
[28] But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children. [29] For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck. [30] Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us. [31] For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?
Click to expand...
Haydock Commentary, Luke 23
Ver. 28. Weep not over me. If you knew the evils that threaten and must soon fall upon your city, upon yourselves, and upon your children, you would preserve your tears to deplore your own misfortunes. My death is for the good of mankind; but it will be fatal to your nation because you have been pleased to make it so. In the ruin of Jerusalem, which is at hand, happy shall they be who have no children. They shall save themselves the grief of seeing their sons and daughters perish miserably, and in some sort of suffering as many deaths as they have children to die. Calmet.

Ver. 31. In the green wood: by which are signified persons of virtue and sanctity; as by the dry wood, the wicked, who bring forth no fruit, and who, like dry wood, are fit to be cast into the fire. Wi. — If they be thus cruel with me, how will they treat you!
Click to expand...
https://www.ecatholic2000.com/haydock/ntcomment71.shtml
 
Last edited:
Hannah was barren. Elizabeth was barren. Barren does in no way indicate contraception. It relates to inability. Read Genesis 38:1-10 if you want to see what God has to say about those who contracept by any means.
 
While I don’t think that’s the primary interpretation of that passage, I do admit that it’s an interesting take. I’ve never thought about that passage in that way before.
 
What do you mean “predict” contraception? Contraception was not unknown in ancient times.
 
In addition to the above, it wouldn’t be predicting, as the Romans had condoms . . .
 
PetraG said:
What do you mean “predict” contraception?
Click to expand...
I assume the OP means “prophecy.”
dochawk said:
In addition to the above, it wouldn’t be predicting, as the Romans had condoms . . .
Click to expand...
True, but to be fair, such contraceptive methods were a bit rudimentary and unrefined. We really didn’t get to an age of mass-used, reliable contraceptives until the 1960s with the advent of the pill. And we’ve experienced the dramatic effects of that ever since.
 
Last edited:
prophesizing widespread use, rather than fact of, would make more sense . . .

(there were also somewhat effective herbal abortifacts [also evil])
 
CTBcin said:
True, but to be fair, such contraceptive methods were a bit rudimentary and unrefined. We really didn’t get to an age of mass-used, reliable contraceptives until the 1960s with the advent of the pill. And we’ve experienced the dramatic effects of that ever since.
Click to expand...
They weren’t unknown at all, nor was abortion unknown. What changed was that in 1965 the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that it was unconstitutional for the government to prohibit contraceptives.

Look at the entire passage: Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?”

The days that he predicted, when people would say ‘Blessed are the barren’" are the same times as the time when "people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and so on. He wasn’t talking about people blithely using contraception. He’s talking about a time that is so catastrophic that people will mourn that their children lived to see it and think that those with no children that they can see go through it with them are better off, because they feel so distraught that they even think they’d all be better off if they were wiped out.

He also lamented Jerusalem in Chapter 19:
As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” Lk 19:41-44

There are many other places where he spoke this way; he was predicting the destruction of Jerusalem.
 
Last edited:
It would be hard to verify this, but I’ve heard in several documentaries that the Romans drove the Silphium plant into extinction because it was so popular as an aphrodisiac and contraceptive. I’m slightly skeptical though, since if it were that popular I would have guessed it would be cultivated.
 
PetraG said:
They weren’t unknown at all, nor was abortion unknown. What changed was that in 1965 the Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that it was unconstitutional for the government to prohibit contraceptives.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
PetraG said:
There are many other places where he spoke this way; he was predicting the destruction of Jerusalem.
Click to expand...
Yeah, and this is what Jesus is talking about in the OP’s passage. I don’t necessarily think the contraception interpretation is good Biblical exegesis, but I do find it intriguing.
 
CTBcin said:
Yeah, and this is what Jesus is talking about in the OP’s passage. I don’t necessarily think the contraception interpretation is good Biblical exegesis, but I do find it intriguing.
Click to expand...
I find it pretty sad–not the interpretation, but the reality that what was once something people would only do in the case of a catastrophe that makes them wish they could be wiped out is now something that some people actually do think is a blessing: that is, the goal of separating sex from the possibility of procreation. So many people now openly say they want to be able to choose to be barren: not unmarried, so they can be free to be fruitful for the Kingdom, but barren so they can do what they want with no responsibility to anybody else.

That’s so sad. What was once recognized as a misfortune is now seen as an ideal. Terrible.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top